1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retractable sunshade for use in connection with the front windshield of a motor vehicle. The retractable sunshade has particular utility in connection with protecting the interior of the vehicle from intense heat build-up and the subsequent damage to interior components and belongings in the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automobiles that are parked in the hot sun tend to experience an intense build-up of heat that can be dangerous to individuals entering the car and can cause damage to the interior of the vehicle as well as to any belongings inside the vehicle. Car owners have turned to such solutions as placing towels over the dashboard and seats to placing sunshades in the windshield to help alleviate this problem. However, these solutions require the manual placement and removal of these items each time the car is parked and then reentered. Therefore, a motorized device that allowed the user to deploy or retract a sunshade on the vehicle's windshield while protecting the interior of a vehicle from the intense heat build-up experienced when parked in the hot sun would be extremely useful to vehicle owners.
The use of automobile sunshades is known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,206 to Roy J. Middleton discloses an automobile shade that consists of flexible rectangular shade with a cable inserted in a hem along the upper edge and a second cable inserted in a hem along the lower edge of the shade. The cables are connected on one end to a supply housing and on the other end to a take-up housing. An electric power source and a two way switch are employed to deploy and retract the sheet of material. However, if either of the cables were to kink and not play out or wind up smoothly, the Middleton '206 device would not operate correctly and could cause the cable to snap. Moreover, due to the location of the cables in the Middleton '206 device, a broken cable would be difficult and tedious to replace. Finally, if the shade material were to wear around the cable or if the hem were to fall out, the cables would droop, rendering the Middleton '206 device inoperable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,544 to Carmel Hubeshi discloses an electromechanical sun visor for motor vehicle windows that includes a sunshade screen rolled onto a spring-loaded takeup roller and a roller housing attachable to the interior of the roof of the vehicle adjacent to the window upper side. A rotatable shaft is driven in forward and backward directions with a bidirectional electric motor connected to the car battery to retract and extend the sun shade screen. Support strips of flexible metal are incorporated into the edges of the sun shade. However, the flexible metal support strips of the Hubeshi '544 device are highly susceptible to bending and kinking, which would render the device inoperable. Furthermore, since there are no guide cables or channels for the Hubeshi '544 device, the shade might not deploy in the correct fashion for a variety of reasons, leaving portions of the car open to damage from the harmful UV rays of the sun. In addition, the lack of guidance supports for the Hubeshi '544 device prevents its usage in a horizontal application and limits its placement to the top of the windshield.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 369,998 to Ezra D. Eskandry discloses the ornamental design for a quilted reflective automobile window shade. However, the Eskandry '998 patent is a manual shade that would need to be placed on the interior of the windshield each time the driver parked the car and retrieved from the windshield each time he returned to the car. Additionally, the driver would need to store the Eskandry '998 device once it was removed, leaving it susceptible to bending, tearing, and other damage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,488 to Craig Michael Wade discloses a motorized sunscreen for motor vehicles that has telescoping sections, a nylon cord, a reversible electric motor that extends and retracts sections of the sunscreen, and a stationary storage compartment located beneath the motor vehicle's dash. However, placement of the Wade '488 sunscreen under the dash requires substantial permanent modification to the vehicle. In addition, should the telescoping sections of the Wade '488 device become dented or bent for any reason, the entire device would be inoperable.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,721 to Yung-Ching Lin discloses a motorized sunscreen for covering a vehicle window that has a base unit with spring-controlled pivot arms that are attached to a screen unit and allow the screen to be deployed through the use of an electrical motor. The sunscreen also has a solar collector and associated converter for use of the solar energy to which it is subjected. However, the Lin '721 device is complex and the solar collection panel and converter would drive up the price of the unit. Furthermore, the operation of the Lin '721 device precludes its use in a horizontal deployment. Finally, due to the size of the base unit of the Lin '721 device, major modifications to the vehicle's dash would be necessary for installation.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,601 B1 to Joseph E. LaFrance discloses a motor driven sunshield that attaches to the roof of the vehicle and operates either in a manual or semi-automatic manner by deploying when the transmission is placed in PARK and the ignition is turned off and retracting when the ignition is on and the transmission is not in PARK. The drive and retraction unit are installed on the roof of the vehicle, and guide tracks are installed along the side edges of the windshield to confine the movement of the sunshade to the proper area. However, the LaFrance '601 B1 patent requires major modification to the roof of the car during installation. As such, the LaFrance '601 B1 would not be suitable for use in convertibles or jeeps having canvas style coverings. In addition, the reliance of the LaFrance '601 B1 device on the transmission mode precludes its use in vehicles with a standard transmission. Finally, the nature of the LaFrance '601 B1 device precludes its deployment in a horizontal fashion.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a retractable sunshade that can be easily deployed to protect the interior of the car from damaging sunlight and heat while requiring a minimum amount of modification to the vehicle. The Middleton '206, Hubeshi '544, and Wade '488 devices would be rendered inoperable due to bending, kinking, or denting of the metal portions of the devices. Moreover, since the cables of the Middleton '206 are secured within hems along the edge of the shade, they would be extremely difficult to replace and any unraveling of the hem would cause the cable to droop and not operate correctly. Since there are no guide cables or channels for the Hubeshi '544 device, the shade might not deploy in the correct fashion for a variety of reasons, leaving portions of the car open to damage from the harmful UV rays of the sun. The Hubeshi '544, Lin '721, and LaFrance '601 B1 sunshades can not be configured in a horizontal deployment. Furthermore, the Wade '488, Lin '721, and LaFrance '601 B1 devices would requires major modifications to the vehicle for installation. The LaFrance '601 B1 can not be used in convertibles, jeeps with canvas coverings, or vehicles operating with a standard transmission. In addition, the Lin '721 device is complex and the solar collection panel and converter would drive up the price of the unit. Finally, the Eskandry '998 device requires the driver to manually deploy, retrieve, and store the sunshield each time it is used. Improper storage of the Eskandry '998 device could cause bending, soiling, tearing, and other damage.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved retractable sunshade that can be used for easy vertical or horizontal deployment across the windshield of a vehicle to protect the interior of the vehicle from damage due to heat buildup and sunlight. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. In this respect, the retractable sunshade according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of protecting the interior of the vehicle from intense heat build-up and the subsequent damage to interior components and belongings in the vehicle.